Discrimination makes women want to work less

Gender pay gap

For the past two decades, two main reasons have been given for the gender pay gap. First, women often work in jobs that pay less and on average work fewer hours than men do. Second, employers disadvantage women in job applications or promotions. In a recent article published in the influential Journal of Political Economy, researchers from Maastricht University and Aarhus University reveal that this is only part of the story. 

Their findings point to an often-overlooked aspect that contributes to the gender pay gap. Discrimination has a negative impact on workers’ morale and on how many hours they choose to work. 

Motivation

Through various experiments, the scientists have shown that when workers perceive that others are paid more because of their gender, they limit their labour participation. Even if they subsequently lose out financially. This effect was stronger among women than among men. According to the researchers, their experiments make it clear that women are considerably demotivated by discrimination. 

“Our experiments show that women work 20% less when they face negative discrimination compared to equal treatment,” says one of the researchers. A supporting survey reveals further consequences of discrimination. “The vast majority reported that they became demotivated, most experienced a decrease in work productivity, 12% reduced their weekly work hours, and 29% left their job within about a year.”